Maureen Hart had never had a summer so crazy...not even the year she'd become a teenage unwed mother. Now her life was on track with a steady boyfriend and a big promotion looming. And the one person who could derail everything was now waiting on her doorstep!

Maureen's estranged daughter desperately needed her to care for her six-year-old son for several months. She just never imagined when she said yes that the child's gorgeous paternal grandfather, Daniel, would insist on staying, as well.

Quarters were getting interestingly close. But Maureen was technically almost engaged...and a workaholic...and a control freak. And totally about to cut loose and indulge in a little fun with a man capable of doing his own laundry!

Avril Carson had to try. Because the hairdresser-turned-actress (turned hairdresser) had left little Sago Beach, Florida, with her whole life in front of her and the man she'd loved by her side. Now she'd come back, with his ashes in an urn, and not even the chance of a child in her future. But she had a sneaking suspicion there was one in her late husband's not too-distant past...

And as for romance-- well, those days were behind her. Or were they? For Max Wright was pursuing her with a vengeance that made her feel things she thought she'd never feel again.

Saturday, September 22 1. Get a dog. 2. Get a man. 3. Get adventurous (go skinny-dipping!) 4. Get a life!

She'd been the pampered and protected wife. Now she was a widow with both daughters off at college and she was suddenly desperate to fill her empty nest with something--anything. So when Jill Townsend finds a mysterious key in her late husband's office she sets out to find the door it opens.

Saying so long to suburbia, she heads for the wilds of Manhattan, where new friends and career opportunities loom--and sexy men are hitting on her! But will Jill ever be able to step beyond the safe and secure world she's always known and take that leap into merry widowhood?

Let ME tell you a story about a girl on Long Island, who always tried to play life by "the rules"--as outlined in the Secret Handbook of Long Island Rules...

That girl, uh, woman, is me, Teddi Gallo. I'm the mother of three kids under the age of eleven, best friend to Bobbie (who denies there's any such thing as a secret handbook, but who knows all the moves by heart) and the daughter of June (who has inside info on the rules, but has a reserved room at South Winds Psychiatric Hospital, as well).

And if I don't have enough to send me over the edge, my too-handsome-for-his-own-good husband seems determined to drive me crazy. But why?

This is the tale of how I had to rewrite that old, dusty handbook--and while doing so, I suddenly discovered the secret to happiness was living by your own rules.

Well, maybe. But when it came to a woman scorned--not to mention two women scorned--maybe revenge was the best revenge. Thus when Joan Hoffman and Liz Savoie, both systematically dumped by the men they thought they loved, worked out side by side at the gym one fine day, they formulated a plan. A club, if you will. Why not go after each other's husbands? See them. Seduce them. And drop them....

The plan was simple. The reality, however, was complicated by pregnant mistresses, embittered new wives, surly grown children--and then one of the exes went missing. And the members of the Payback Club were in for it now: Would they get even? Would they get everything?

Stacy Kavanaugh's life has been the pits lately. Six months ago --okay, six months, one week and two days, but who's counting? --her husband left her for an exotic dancer. The property settlement negotiations have been downright ugly. And exhausting. Stacy has had enough. She's ready to throw in the towel. And the pasta machine, too.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans. Her attorney calls to tell her that Daniel is now threatening to ask for half of her business in the property settlement. Stacy figures things have hit rock bottom. How could they get any worse? Well.... a Sheriff's Deputy could deliver the news that Daniel has crashed his single engine plane into the mountains of Montana's Bitterroot National Forest. He's presumed dead, but there's no body. They think a bear dragged it away. It's snowing and it'll be Spring before they can do another search for Daniel's remains. Yeah, that would definitely qualify as worse!

Forty-six-year-old book editor Elisha Reid has focused entirely on her career in publishing until the sudden death of her brother from pancreatic cancer leaves her with two nieces to care for. As she learns about the demands of motherhood and balancing with work, she also unexpectedly forms a romantic attachment with her most difficult author, Ryan Sutherland, a Tom Clancy type, who has his own demons to face. Can an old dog learn new tricks? Can this professional woman learn to deal with this unexpected tragedy and create a new life for herself and her nieces?

Witty and irreverent homicide detective Maggie Skerritt likes her quiet, sleepy workdays. Violence in Pelican Bay, Florida, was rarely an issue, and Maggie certainly wasn't itching for the tide to change. Maintaining a professional distance had always been Maggie's M.O., but the more she learned about the homicide victims, the less sleep she got. Each woman had started to get her life back on track--something Maggie had been meaning to do for years. It was a wake-up call--and Maggie was more determined, once she solved the case, to reevaluate her own life. Especially her relationship with a certain former police detective...

The sweet core of every life is surrounded by many protective layers. In other words: getting to the food stuff means cutting through the...! And for childhood friends Julia, Krissy and Laura, there's a lot to cut through! Each grew up with grandiose dreams of happily -ever-after, only to find that real life had another plan. they had grown apart--but now, in the fourth decade of their lives, a chance meeting brings them back together again. There's nithing like sisters-in-arms to hand you lemons and say, "Make lemonade--we'll all have a drink!" And then talk daughters, husbands, shopping malls...andwhat to do when a serious dose of reality is needed to get to the heart of the matter...

The residents of Riggs Park nicknamed her Penny, since her hair was the red of a bright copper coin...We'd all grown up in the flourishing Washington, D.C., suburb--Marilyn, me, Steve, Penny and Wish... the boy I'd loved. It was during the baby-boom years, when the future was luminous. But things don't always turn out as expected. Riggs Park had secrets, and Penny was one of them.Sometimes there's a chance to go back and right a wrong. Marilyn is convinced Penny had had a baby, and that the child belonged to her family. My lifelong friend can't follow up--she's fighting cancer. Only I can search for answers. But would finding truth break my heart...or set us all free?